Corn-planter.



No 727,539. PATBNTED MAY 5, 1903. L. P. GRAHAM.

ORN PLANT AP ATION FILED rs. 90s.

1T0 MODEL.

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PATENTED MAY 5', 1903. L. P. GRAHAM.

CORN PLANTER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 2. 1903.

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PATENT ()FFICE.

LEVI P. GRAHAM, OF DECATUR, ILLINOIS.

CORN-QPALANTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 727,539, dated May 5, 1903. Application filed February 2, 1903. Serial No. 141,627. (No model.)

improved means for driving the dropping mechanism in the seedboxes of corn-planters.

The invention relates to that class of planters in which the grains required in a hill are each dropped from a single cell; and it belongs to the subclass in which the seed-plates are moved at cross-rows as distinguished from the subclass in which the entire hill is dropped from the seedbox while traveling between CI'OSS-l'OWS.

A serious difficulty in edge-drop planters is.

to properly fill all the cells of the seed-wheel during a rotation thereof, and various plans have been devised to overcome this obstacle. In the different experiments it has devoloped that starting and stopping the seed-Wheel tends to cause the grains to enter the cells,and that the oftener a cell is started and stopped While exposed to the corn in the seedbox the greater its chances of receiving a grain. As commonly made and operated, an edge-drop seed-wheel startsand stops four times in making a rotation and each cell is exposed to the corn during three of these motions. In the present plan the seed-wheel starts and stops ten times in making a rotation, each cell is exposed during approximately nine of these intermittent motions, and so the probability of the cells becoming filled is increased nearly or quite threefold.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a plan of so much of a planter asis needed to explain this invention, showing the various movable parts in their normal positions or the positions they occupy immediately preceding encounter of the forked lever with a check-row knot. Fig. 2 is a plan of the working parts of the front frame of a planter, showing the same in the positions they assume as the check-row shaft is rocked backward by a check-row knot. Fig. 3 is a detail of the seed-wheel and the drivepinion therefor on section-line X in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detail of the mechanism used to transmit motion from the check-row shaft to the drill-shaft, the view being taken on seetion-line Y in Fig. 2 and the parts being in the positions they occupy when the check-row shaft is rocked forward. Fig. 5 is a detail, similar to Fig. 4, with the exception that the parts are in the positions they occupy when the check-row shaft is rocked backward. Fig. 6 is a detail of the mechanism used to rock :the check-row shaft forward, the view being taken on section-line Z in Fig. 2. Fig. 7 is a diametrical section through the ratchetwheel used in rocking the check-row shaft forward.

The seed-wheel 1 has peripheral cells 2, Whichare operatively divided into sets, each of which is capable of dropping the grains required for a hill. In this case the seedwheel has five operative divisions, which are indicated by dotted lines, and each operative division contains three cells. Each cell is made to contain a single grain of corn, the seed-wheel is given a one-fifth rotation at each cross row, and so three grains are dropped from the seedbox at each operation of the planter while check rowing. The grains constituting a hill are in practice retained in the shank of the planter while traveling from one cross-row to another; but that is something with which this invention has nothing to do. The seed-wheel is of the edgedrop type, as shown, and it is preferably provided with an eccentric feed wheel, as 3. The seed-wheel has gear-teeth 4, and a pinion 5 on drill-shaft 6 meshes with theteeth of the seed-wheel. The wheels 4 and 5 are the same size in operative diameter, and so the seed wheel turns at the-same speed as the drillshaft. A lantern-wheel 7 is fastened on the drill-shaft to turn therewith, and it has rungs 8, through which the drill-shaft is moved intermittently. A collar 9 projects from an end of the lantern-wheel, and a flange 12 on the end of the collar provides means for shifting the lantern-wheel lengthwise of the drillshaft. Clutch-teeth 13 are. formed on the lantern-wheel outside flange 12. A ratchetwheel 14 is journaled to turn loosely'on the drill-shaft, a sprocket-wheel 15 is formed integral with the ratchet wheel or secured thereto, and clutch-teeth 16 project from the sprocket-Wheel toward the clutch-teeth of the The collar 9 of the lanternlantern-wheel.

wheel is slotted lengthwise, as shown at in Fig. 2, and a pin 11 projects from the drillshaft through slot 10 and permits the lantern-wheel to be moved into and out of clutch with the sprocket-wheel.

' The check-row shaft 17 has a forked lever 18 at its end, a check row wire 19 runs through the forked lever, and a knot 20 on the check-row wire provides means for rocking the check-row shaft backward by acting against the forked lever. An arm 21 is fastened to the checkrow shaft beneath the tongue of the planter as a matter of preference, a link 22 conjoins pivotally with the swinging end of arm 21, and a spring 23 is secured at one end to the link 22 and at the other end to the planter-tongue. When the check-row shaft is rocked forward, as shown in Fig. 1, the spring 23 pulls lengthwise of arm 21 and forms a dead-center look; but as soon as the check-row-wire knot rocks the check row shaft backward far enough to break the dead-center lock the spring aids the check-row knot in actuating the dropping mechanism. An arm 24 on the check-row shaft carries a pawl 25, which engages with the ratchet-wheel 14 when the check-row shaft is rocked backward. The pawl 25 has a cross-bar 26 on its swinging end, one member of which projects into'the face of the ratchet-wheel and engages the teeth thereof, while the other member projects in the opposite direction for a purpose hereinafter disclosed. An arm 27 is fastened to the checkrow shaft and extended upward therefrom. A pawl 28 is connected with the swinging end of arm 27 in position to engage the rungs of the lantern-wheel. An arm 29 extends downward from the check-row shaft, and it carries a pawl 30, which is also adapted to engage the rungs of the lantern-wheel. The ratchetwheel may be held against moving lengthwise of the drill-shaft by forming a collar 31 on the shaft, as shown in Fig. 7, and using a separable plate 32 to embrace the collar.

' A seedbox is shown in horizontal section at 33 in Fig. 1. A covering or ground wheel is shown at 34:. Achain adapted to transmit motion from the covering-wheel to the sprocketwheel 15 is shown at 35. The planter-tongue is shown at 36. At 37is shown across-bracket, secured at its ends to bars 39 and 4.0 of the front frame. A cam 38 is formed on a side of bracket 37, and as the ratchet-wheel 14 carries the free end of pawl 25 upward and forward a member of cross-bar 26 rides over the cam and prevents the pawl from falling out of contact with the ratchet-wheel before the check-row shaft is rocked entirely forward. A side bar 41 of the rear frame of the planter is hinged to cross bracket 37. A check-row head is shown at 4.2.

When the planter leaves a cross-row, the dropping mechanism is in the condition shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. As the planter moves along motion is transmitted from coveringwheel 34 to sprocket-wheel 15 through chain 35, the pawl 25 is carried forward by the rotation of the ratchet-wheel 14, and the checkrow shaft is rocked forward to the position shown in Fig. 1. The forward rock of the check-row shaft puts spring 23 under tension, and as the motionterminates the pawl 28 engages one of the rungs 8 of lantern wheel 7 and advances the seed-wheel a slight distance. The extent of the motion imparted to the seed wheel by pawl 28 is a matter of indifference,- as the sole object is to givea start and stop which will aid in filling the seed-cells with corn. Consequently the motion may be variable and indeterminate, and it may consist of a slight jar or of a considerable part of the one-fifth rotation of the seed-Wheel needed to deposit a hill. In this particular instance the pawl 28 moves the seed-wheel about one-third of its operative motion, or one-fifteenth of a complete rotation, and leaves the check-row wire and the spring 23 to complete the movement when 'a crossrow is reached. As soon as the forked lever encounters a knot on the check-row wire the pawl rocks the lantern-wheel, as shown in Fig. 5, to an extent sufficient to carry the seedwheel to the position shown in Fig. 2, thereby depositing a complete hill of corn in the planter-shank. The drill-shaft is actuated from the check-row shaft, and each operation is made up of two motions. One of the motions is derived from the forward rock of the check-row shaft, and the other motion is derived from the backward rock of the shaft. Both motions of the drill-shaft are in the same direction, and one is complementary of the other. The preliminary motion of the drill-shaft is intended to aid in filling the cells, and its contribution to the advancement of the seed-plate is immaterial. The final motion of the drill-shaft contributes incidentally to the filling of the seed-cells; but its principal function is to advance the seedplate a definite predetermined distance. The definite predetermined movement of the seedwheel is made at cross-rows by the aid of the check-row wire, while the movement made between cross-rows may be indefinite, variable, and indeterminate.

When it is desired to use the planter as a drill, the lantern-wheel is made to engage the sprocket-wheel and the drill-shaft is driven continuously while the check-row shaft remains at rest. The lantern-wheel acts as a ratchet-wheel for pawls 28 and 30, and it is a desirable but not an indispensable form of ratchet-wheel.

I claim- 1. In a planter, the combination of a seedwheel, a rocking check-row shaft, and means for imparting motion from the check-row shaft to the seed-wheel during both the for ward and the backward movements of the shaft.

2. In a planter, the combination of a seedwheel, a rocking cheek-row shaft, means for imparting motion from the check-row shaft rocking the check-row shaft forward while traveling between cross rows, means for rocking the check-row shaft backward at cross-rows, means for imparting some of the forward rock of the check-row shaft to the seed-wheel and means for imparting a definite, predetermined movement to the seedwheel by the backward rock of the shaft.

4. In a planter, the combination of a seedwheel, a rocking check-row shaft, means for rocking the check-row shaft forward while traveling between cross-rows, means for rocking the check-row shaft backward at crossrows, means for advancing the seed-wheel a part of an operative movement by forward rock of the check-row shaft and means for completing an operative advance of the seedwheel by motion derived from the backward rock of the shaft.

5. In a planter, the combination of a seedwheel; a covering-wheel; a rocking checkrow shaft; means for rocking the check-row shaft forward,while traveling between crossrows, by motion derived from the covering- Wheel; means for rocking the check row shaft backward at cross-rows; means for advanoing the seed-wheel a part of an operative movement by the forward rock of the check-row shaft, and means for completing an operative advance of the seed-wheel by motion derived from the backward rock of the check-row shaft.

In testimony whereof I sign my name in the 40 WVitnesses:

E. S. MCDONALD, ROSA VOELCKER. 

